Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Mini review : Our verdict on the HTC 10 in a minute

HTC 10 is the flagship phone of HTC . It's also the company's best phone in years.

After years oflosses and lacklusterphone releases, HTC finally seems to have gotten its mojo back. OK, it might be too soon to say if its new flagship, the 10, is enough to help the company reverse its fortunes, but if nothing else it's a fantastic device. We love the 10 for its excellent build quality, fast performance, robust audio setup and out-of-the-box Airplay support. Compared to other high-end phones, though, the battery life is merely average and camera performance doesn't quite measure up to Samsung's new Galaxy S7 line. For that reason, the HTC 10 received a slightly lower score -- 88, versus 90 on the GS7 -- but it's still among the best smartphones you can buy right now. Depending on your priorities, it might even be a better choice than the GS7.

Pros

Exceptional build quality

A more subtle approach to software than on previous HTC phones

Top-tier performance

First Android phone that supports Airplay streaming out of the box

Great audio through headphones

Cons

Merely average battery life

Camera performance falls short of some rivals

Sound is considerably less impressivewhen you listen through speakers

Hi-res earbuds aren't included with US models

Summary

Simply put, this is the best phone HTC has made in years. It's fantastic, though not exactly perfect. While its build quality is tremendous and there's plenty of horsepower under the hood, HTC still isn'tquiteas good as Samsung at cameras, while the battery life here is hit-or-miss. Still, the 10's lightweight Android skin and great audio performance (in addition to everything else) could make it a better choice for some than either of Samsung's Galaxy S7 phones.